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Jasmine - which variety?

gongoras
12 years ago

I am redoing my backyard. I am going for a contemporary design, with a spa atmosphere. I love the smell of jasmine and I want this smell to impregnate my backyard. I plan to plant jasmine lining the perimeter of my backyard one to cover my ugly fence and two to provide the fragrance when I walk into the back yard. I have a typical suburban backyard, not too big not too small. Which varieties of jasmine should I chose to accomplish the result I am looking for? Should I mix different varieties, some for fragrance some for beauty? Appreciate any comments.

Comments (3)

  • mehitabel
    12 years ago

    Sounds like a great plan. I would recommend you check out Logees website. Just enter "jasmine" in the searth, and you will get a list of all the varieties they offer. You might even call them and ask their advice. Ditto about calling Almost Eden.

    There are several vining varieties which should do a great job covering your fence. The poet's jasmine, single and double is a small leaves vining variety that is very fragrant. The humile is quite lovely, a vigorous vining variety with yellow flowers, but less fragrant. I have seen pictures of vining jasmines reaching to the roof of a house, so you shouldn't have any trouble covering your fence in time.

    A plant called Gelsemium has yellow tubular flowers and a lovely fragrance, much more vigorous than the Jasminum type.

    For your accent plants, I would recomment the jasmine sambacs, especially the wonderful, fragrant Grand Duke (but buy that elsewhere, the Logees are very small plants).

    As for mixing or not-- I personally think you get the best effect in landscaping by not mixing too much.

    Good luck with your plan-- sounds lovely to me.

  • jimshy
    12 years ago

    Definitely check in with a local nursery or botanic garden, if they're nearby. True jasmines need a lot of water, especially in summer and especially when young, so that may require an irrigation system or garden help if you don't want to be outside with a hose all day.

    Also, different species do better or worse in different climates, and two (j. azoricum and dichotomum) are invasive in Florida, so depending on your climate you may think about avoiding those. What's your climate zone?

    As for recommendations, a mix of species and cultivars is always a good idea so you've got different plants flowering at different times -- the poet's jasmine types (j. officinale, grandiflorum, and polyanthum) all need winter chilling to flower in spring, and they don't flower much after that season.

    Tropical jasmines, like sambac, nitidum, tortuosum, etc., can flower all year round -- I give tortuosum a thumbs up if you've got room for it, it's tough, fast growing and fragrant, and I'm pretty sure it's hardier than is usually reported.

    Don't forget asian jasmines (trachelospermums), they're all at least z 8 hardy, have a different fragrance from true jasmines, and some have great foliage forms as well.

    Good luck and have fun with them!

  • gongoras
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thank you for your help. I live in Houston, not sure which zone that is, sorry I am not a gardener.....yet. But we grow a lot of tropical plants here. The common jasmine used in Houston is Star Jasmine. Any comments on star jasmine? I hired a landscaper and that is the only one he is familiar with but we are going to a nursery that specializes in jasmine to have a look around and ask questions. Also I keep reading about "true" jasmine, what is that referring to? I will be putting bamboo sporadically in front of the jasmine so there will not be too many places where I will see the jasmine it is for fence coverage and aroma. I will try to have a few places where the jasmine are dominant and I will be sure to use a pretty one there. Thanks.